November 30 Morning Edition

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Trump taps Cubs’ Todd Ricketts for Deputy Commerce post – Lynn Sweethttp://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/trump-taps-cubs-todd-ricketts-for-deputy-commerce-post/amp/— Madigan stays out of mix as budget clock ticks – Tina Sfondeleshttp://chicago.suntimes.com/news/madigan-stays-out-of-mix-as-budget-clock-ticks/— Seven ways Trump tries to control the media – Robert Reich (DIERSEN: Should I write a book about the efforts that have been made to control me and my GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails since 2000?)http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/reich-seven-ways-trump-tries-to-control-the-media/(FROM THE ARTICLE: 1. Berate the media. . .2. Blacklist critical media. . .3. Turn the public against the media. . .4. Condemn satirical or critical comments. . .5. Threaten the media directly. . .6. Limit media access. . .7. Bypass the media and communicate with the public directly.)
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Ever-increasingly, Democrats and RINOs promote LGBTQ activity.http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/editorial-court-should-ban-sexual-orientation-discrimination/— Megyn Kelly dishes about Chicago – Shia Kapos (DIERSEN: Is/was your job fulfilling? Because of GAO’s mission, my job working for GAO 1980-1997 was especially fulfilling.)http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/kapos-fred-eychaner-builds-gallery-for-aids-arts-show/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly chit-chatted about Chicago with business executives at a party hosted by Dan Goodwin, chairman of Inland Real Estate Group. Kelly sat with Ron Gidwitz, a fundraiser for Donald Trump; investor and philanthropist Muneer Satter; Bill Kunkler, executive vice president of the Crown family’s CC Industries; and Todd Ricketts, the Cubs co-owner who says he’s “honored” to be considered for a position in Trump’s Cabinet. On stage at the Westin Hotel in Lombard, Kelly talked about living in Chicago. Before battling Trump on the air, she was a litigator at the Jones Day law firm in the city. Kelly said she has fond memories of guitar lessons at Old Town School of Folk Music and living in Roscoe Village. But the work wasn’t fulfilling. An episode of “Dr. Phil” hit home. “He said, ‘The only difference between you and someone you envy is that you settled for less.’” A career change followed, and now comes Kelly’s book: “Settle for More.”)

DAILY HERALD
— Consolidate debate draws 18 Republicans for Naperville Township seats – Marie Wilsonhttp://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161129/news/161128953/— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH COLOR PHOTO OF CHARLIE KIRK: Wheeling High graduate Charlie Kirk behind political ‘Professor Watchlist’ – Kerry Lesterhttp://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161130/news/161139969/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A Wheeling native is the driving force behind a new website that identifies professors from Illinois and around the country and claims they “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The Professor Watchlist is part of Turning Point USA, founded by Charlie Kirk, a 23-year-old Wheeling High School graduate. “It’s no secret that some of America’s college professors are totally out of line,’ Kirk wrote in a recent blog post, adding it is “time to expose them.” The website describes itself as “an aggregated list of pre-existing news stories that were published by a variety of news organizations.” Most of the listings, which include professors’ names and photos, give as attribution campusreform.org, which is run by the conservative Leadership Institute. The Professor Watchlist says it will “continue to fight for free speech and the right for professors to say whatever they wish” but states “students, parents, and alumni deserve to know the specific incidents and names of professors that advance a radical agenda in lecture halls.” Kent State history professor Julio Pino, among those named on the site, told The New York Times the site is “a kind of normalizing of prosecuting professors, shaming professors, defaming professors.” According to the list, Darwin Pagnac, an instructor at Des Moines Area Community College, required students to write about climate-change skeptics and address their motivation and who funds their efforts. Dr. David Pook, a professor at Granite State College in New Hampshire, is listed for saying he helped write Common Core standards in order to end white privilege and “that as a white male in society I am given a lot of privilege that I didn’t earn.” Professors from Northwestern University, DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University Chicago are on the list. The Professor Watchlist says Columbia College chemistry and environmental science Professor Keith Kostecka called for the demise of the Tea Party and commented that House Speaker Paul Ryan should go kill himself. Kostecka told the Daily Herald “this all came about due to someone stealing my identity (from Facebook) several years ago and posting some terrible thing supposedly stated by me that I had and have no part of. I am on this list due to that very unfortunate series of events.” Northwestern University engineering professor Alan Butz is on the list for statements he made denying the Holocaust took place. Northwestern officials pointed Tuesday to a statement made by University President Henry S. Bienen in 2006, which noted, “There is no question that the Holocaust is a well-documented historical fact,” but Butz, a tenured professor, “is entitled to express his personal views, including on his personal web pages, as long as he does not represent such opinions as views of the university.”)

STATELINE
— Kellogg pulls ads from Breitbart Website claims 45 million unique visitors a month – Dylan Byers (DIERSEN: There are no ads on www.gopillinois.com and in GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails, so no there are no ads to be pulled. He who pays the piper calls the tunes. My critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes are furious that I have enough time and enough money to put together and send out a GOPUSA ILLINOIS email every morning and every evening free of charge and without any advertising.)

http://www.mystateline.com/news/kellogg-pulls-ads-from-breitbart
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The cereal brand Kellogg is pulling its advertising from Breitbart News because it disagrees with the right-wing website’s political views. “We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren’t aligned with our values as a company,” Kellogg said in a statement. “We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site.” That decision comes amid scrutiny over Breitbart’s controversial populist, anti-immigrant worldview, and in the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to appoint former Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon as his chief White House strategist. Should other advertisers follow suit, it could lead to financial troubles for the site. But Breitbart says Kellogg is wrong to dismiss its loyal and extensive readership, which it claims totals 45 million unique visitors in the last month. “Breitbart News Network has built an engaged community of over 45 million loyal readers who are also a powerful consumer group that reflects the values of mainstreet America,” the company said in a statement. “Kellogg’s decision to blacklist one of the largest conservative media outlets in America is economic censorship of mainstream conservative political discourse. That is as un-American as it gets.” Breitbart CEO Larry Solov similarly told The Hollywood Reporter that Kellogg was “buying into a false, left-wing narrative that our 45 million readers are deplorables.”)

BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH
— Chicago-based U.S. court to hear LGBT-workplace bias appeal – AP (DIERSEN: If I had not been denied my 7th Amendment rights in Diersen v. GAO, I would have convinced a jury that to meet their Affirmative Action quotas during the 1980s and 1990s, the Democrats who ran GAO discriminated against their employees who were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran.)http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/chicago-based-us-court-to-hear-lgbt-workplace-bias-appeal/article_79807fc1-4aa6-5ce1-a01e-4d5e9d071c79.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A Chicago-based court will consider arguments that protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act should expand to cover LGBT workers. The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear Indiana teacher Kimberly Hively’s appeal Wednesday. It vacated a ruling by three of its own judges in July that the landmark workplace-discrimination law doesn’t cover sexual-orientation bias. Hively alleges a college didn’t hire her full time because she is a lesbian. The three-judge panel did criticize the lack of sexual-orientation workplace protections, but said they must come from Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate a social conservative to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, making High Court action on the issue uncertain.)

WJBD
— Rauner Sets Up 2 Workplace Task Forces; Union Is Skeptical (DIERSEN: While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, its top priority was a) hiring, retaining, and promoting Democrats, and especially Democrats who were minority, female, and/or younger and b) making way for them by getting rid of its employees who were Republican, and especially those Republicans who were White, male, older, and/or non-veteran.)http://www.wjbdradio.com/local-news/2016/11/29/rauner-sets-up-2-workplace-task-forces-union-is-skeptical

LUTHERAN CHURCH CHARITIES
— Share Your Life – Tim Hetzner (DIERSEN: How much of your life do you share with others? Each and every day, I share 10+ hours of my life, that is, I share two GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails, one in the morning, and one in the evening. How much of their lives do my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes share with you?)http://devotions.lccharities.org/2016/11/30/share-your-life/

AOL NEWS
— Day of Giving: Illinois First Lady Diana Rauner CBS 2’s Rob Johnson speaks with Diana Rauner on the importance of donating and the impact it makes. (DIERSEN: How much of your life do you give to others? Each and every day, I give to others 10+ hours of my life, that is, I give two GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails, one in the morning, and one in the evening. How much of their lives do my critics/opponents give to you? My critics/opponents have lots of money and lots of religious, government, political, and/or financial clout in Wheaton, in Glen Ellyn, in Milton, in DuPage County, and in Illinois. If they wanted to, they could give you lots of money, a new home, a new car, a sweetheart job, a sweetheart contract, favorable legislation, and much more.)http://www.aol.com/video/view/day-of-giving-illinois-first-lady-diana-rauner/583e1dcc1c68990eaa82616d/

WASHINGTON POST
— Donald Trump tweets that he will leave his business ‘in total’ to focus on presidencyhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/30/donald-trump-tweets-that-he-will-leave-his-business-in-total-to-focus-on-presidency/— Hopes for a female president dashed, women take running for office into their own hands – Isaac Stanley-Beckerhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hopes-for-a-female-president-dashed-women-consider-entering-politics-themselves/2016/11/26/1620b182-b043-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html— Continue diversity efforts under Trump, civil servants urged – Joe Davidson (DIERSEN: If the federal workforce looked like America, half its employees would be Republicans; but virtually all federal employees are Democrats. While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, its top priority was a) hiring, retaining, and promoting Democrats, and especially Democrats who were minority, female, and/or younger and b) making way for them by getting rid of its employees who were Republican, and especially those Republicans who were White, male, older, and/or non-veteran.)https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/28/continue-diversity-efforts-under-trump-civil-servants-urged/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: President-elect Donald Trump was barely mentioned at the White House Summit on Diversity and Inclusion in Government, but he wasn’t ignored. Top career civil servants and Obama administration political appointees gathered Monday to discuss the importance of a federal workforce that looks like America at all levels, just weeks before the new president, who was overwhelmingly rejected by voters of color, takes office. Trump gained political notoriety by fronting a racist birth certificate campaign to delegitimize Barack Obama, the first black president. Trump then ran a campaign that started with bashing Mexicans and was tarred by his vulgar misogyny. It speaks volumes that he was backed by the Ku Klux Klan, an American Nazi leader, and hailed with Nazi salutes, even as he rejected their support. With that context the summit, planned before his electoral college victory, took on even greater significance. No one was openly critical of Trump during the morning plenary sessions. That would have been impolitic, particularly given the graciousness of the president and first lady toward the incoming occupants of the White House. Indeed, participants seemed to expect the diversity effort to continue under Trump, despite his actions and statements, because it is “imperative,” in the words of acting office of personnel management director Beth Cobert. “The bottom line is simple,” she said in terms Trump can appreciate. “We cannot afford to leave talent and resources on the table.” Yet Trump’s reputation provides good reason for trepidation, as some speakers alluded to — if only obliquely. “Given the nature of this campaign on this issue of diversity and inclusion, I’m sure that there is more than the usual amount of concern and questions,” said Shaun Donovan, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director. That is “all the more reason,” he added, that career officials “should be thinking about how you step up, how you join together in the coming months and years to make sure that this issue gets carried on.” Carrying on efforts to expand federal workforce diversity after Obama’s departure was a repeated message at the summit. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, deputy secretary of energy, said “the work we have begun to date has to be extended across administrations” and how deeply disappointing it would be if that work was “lost or dropped.” Although Gilbert Sandate, chair of the Coalition for Fairness for Hispanics in Government, said the Obama administration has had “inconsistent, spotty success in advancing diversity,” he also praised the president for establishing “one of the most ambitious, multipronged, systematic efforts to institutionalize hiring excellence in government.” The summit grew from Obama’s 2011 Executive Order “establishing a coordinated government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce.” Sandate does not expect similar efforts under Trump. “Trump’s stated and known views about diversity and inclusion in general … do not bode well for a government workforce that looks like America anytime soon,” said Sandate, who was not at the summit. “I’m afraid the challenge under the Trump administration will be to dig in and fight to hold onto the diversity and inclusion gains made thus far, lest they be quickly eroded or eliminated entirely.” Cobert, who this year said that “one of the most challenging barriers to diversity and inclusion is unconscious bias,” cited three examples of “affirmative steps” taken by the administration “to build a diverse workforce”: In November, the federal government “exceeded the president’s goal of hiring 100,000 people with disabilities into the federal workforce over five years.” The Agriculture Department’s use of “blind applications” that don’t include the names of candidates helped increase the percentage of women in its Senior Executive Service (SES) to 39 percent, an increase of almost 50 percent. The Federal Aviation Administration’s “concerted effort to broaden the recruitment effort” led to a significant increase in job offers to Hispanic candidates and women. “These are examples of real progress,” Cobert said in prepared remarks. True. Yet these success stories also tell us how far away parity remains because of the racism, sexism and implicit bias that makes real inclusion an elusive goal. Female senior executives, for example, remain well below their percentage of the general population at the Agriculture Department and across government. The FAA’s efforts resulted in 28 percent of job offers to women, although women hold up half the sky, as Mao Zedong reminded us. Governmentwide, women were 34.4 percent of the SES workforce in fiscal 2015. The Hispanic-Latino category was a minuscule 2.9 percent, according to an OPM report. The percentage of African American senior executives, however, has increased considerably during the Obama years. In 2008, before he took office, black employees were 8.2 percent of the SES. That had increased to 11.3 in 2015. Without mentioning the president-elect, Sherwood-Randall capsulized the call for civil servants to continue the fight for greater diversity under Trump with this simple directive: “Speak truth to power.”)— Donald Trump has reached a deal with a manufacturer to keep jobs from going to Mexico – Jim Tankersley and Danielle Paquettehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/29/donald-trump-has-reached-a-deal-with-a-manufacturer-to-keep-jobs-from-going-to-mexico/

Author: David Diersen

The opinions that I express in GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails are based on experience that I have gained doing many things since 1948. I base my opinions on what I learned a) working for the federal government for almost 30 years -- Post Office 1966-1969, IRS 1971-1980, and GAO 1980-1997, serving on the Executive Committee of the Association of Government Accountants Chicago Chapter 1983-1996, and being a union member while I worked for the Post Office and IRS; b) earning an MBA from Loyola in 1976, a masters degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, and a masters degree in financial markets and trading from IIT in 1997; c) passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981; c) serving as a Republican Precinct Committeeman since 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois Chairman 2005-2012, a member of the 2008 Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Platform and Resolutions Committee, a Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member 2003-2011, the Milton Township Republican Central Committee webmaster 2008-2010 and 2000-2004, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007, and an American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member 2001-2004; d) attending the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 IRP State Conventions as a delegate; e) being the subject of a nasty 4-page article in the February 1978 issue of Money Magazine; f) pursing litigation including Diersen v. GAO and Diersen v. Chicago Car Exchange; g) being married since 1978; h) living in Crete 1948-1972, in University Park 1972-1976, in Chicago 1976-1978, and in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978; and i) being baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran.
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